Audi R8 LMP #77 1st Race of a Thousand Years CA33a - Rinaldo Capello
In year 2000 Audi launched the R8 LMP model, a car destined to be dominant on all endurance race tracks for several years. For its Le Mans debut, Joest Racing entered the works cars from Ingolstadt in the LMP P 900 class. Competitors consisted mainly of works teams from Cadillac, Panoz Motorsports and Pescarolo Sport, as well as some other private LMP entries.
On December 31st, 2000, the 'Race of a Thousand Years', valid for the American Le Mans series, was raced on the Adelaide road circuit. Audi entered a R8 LMP decorated with a special 'crocodile' car livery as an homage to Australia. The race lasted 850 km only rather than 1000, and was won by the Audi No. 77 driven by Rinaldo Capello and Allan McNish.